Southeast Asian Rainforest Climate

Southeast Asian Climate
Tropical Moist Climate (Af)

Southeast Asia is a part of Asia. It consists a 3,100 mile long chain of about 20,000 islands strung between Asia and Australia. Winds called monsoons control much of the climate of Southeast Asia. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic word "mausim", meaning season. Southeast Asian rainforests have four different seasons; the winter northeast monsoon, the summer southwest monsoon and two intermonsoon seasons. The northeast monsoon season is from November to March and has steady winds from the north or northeast that blow from 10 to 30 knots. These winds originate all the way in Siberia and bring typhoons and other severe weather. Typhoons are the southern Hemisphere's version of hurricanes. The east coasts of the Southeast Asian islands get heavy rains during this time. The southwest monsoon season is from late May to September. The winds don't blow as hard and the weather is a little drier. This doesn't mean everything dries up, it still rains every day, just not as much. During the intermonsoon seasons the winds are light. All seasons are hot and humid, and there is very little seasonal variation in temperature.

Southeast Asia's rainforests were thought to be the most bio-diverse regions in the world. They found as many as 200 tree species in one single hectare. Recently the record has been beat by Peru. There are also a lot of endangered species in the Southeast Asian rainforest. Southeast Asia has 10 independent countries. They are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The letter code under Köppen's climate classification is Af. The A stands for a place that has a rainy, cool summer but a warm spring. The f stands for moist, fair rainfall in all months. Af climates are caused by consistent warmth in the temperatures. So, Af stands for the tropical rainforest climate. The Af climates have high humidities, which cause afternoon clouds and rain showers. These are some temperatures of the Af climate. The average temperature in the coldest month of the year is at least 18° C. The daily temperature range is 10° C to 25° C. The humidity is very oppressive! The vegetation for Af is a broad leaf evergreen forest. The location of the Af climate is low-lying areas near the equator.

Southeast Asia has uniform temperatures, high humidity and lots of rain. The average temperature per year is 80° F. Ninety five degrees Fahrenheit, however, is the high temperature for tropical rainforests. The climate is very humid and sticky because Southeast Asia is surrounded by oceans. The average humidity is from 70 to 90 %. The annual precipitation is heavy; 60 inches to over 100 inches.

The latitude range of this climate is 16° S to 20° N latitude, and the longitude range is 95° to 130° E.

by Lydia F. 2002

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